th luminous
and helpful, it adds little to our knowledge of what constitutes the
Baconian method. On the other heads we have but a few scattered hints. But
although the rigorous requirements of science could only be fulfilled by
the employment of all these means, yet in their absence it was permissible
to draw from the tables and the exclusion a hypothetical conclusion, the
truth of which might be verified by the use of the other processes; such an
hypothesis is called fantastically the First Vintage (_Vindemiatio_). The
inductive method, so far as exhibited in the _Organum_, is exemplified by
an investigation into the nature of heat.

Such was the method devised by Bacon, and to which he ascribed the
qualities of absolute certainty and mechanical simplicity. But even
supposing that this method were accurate and completely unfolded, it is
evident that it could only be made applicable and produce fruit when the
phenomena of the universe have been very completely tabulated and arranged.
In this demand for a complete natural history, Bacon also felt that he was
original, and he was deeply impressed with the necessity for it;[85] in
fact, he seems occasionally to place an even higher value upon it than upon
his _Organum_. Thus, in the preface to his series of works forming the
third part of the _Instauratio_, he says: "It comes, therefore, to this,
that my _Organum_, even if it were completed, would not without the
_Natural History_ much advance the _Instauration of the Sciences_, whereas
the _Natural History_ without the _Organum_ would advance it not a
little."[86] But a complete natural history is evidently a thing
impossible, and in fact a history can only be collected by attending to the
requirements of the _Organum_. This was seen by Bacon, and what may be
regarded as his final opinion on the question is given in the important
letter to Jean Antoine Baranzano[87] ("Redemptus": 1590-1622):--"With
regard to the multitude of instances by which men may be deterred from the
attempt, here is my answer. First, what need to dissemble? Either store of
instances must be procured, or the business must be given up. All other
ways, however enticing, are impassable. Secondly, the prerogatives of
instances, and the mode of experimenting upon experiments of light (which I
shall hereafter explain), will diminish the multitude of them very much.
Thirdly, what matter, I ask, if the description of the instances should
fill six times as ma